Gluten Free Salted Caramel Cupcakes

I feel like salted caramel has been a growing trend the last year or so… it is naughty but oh so nice! I thought today I would make some gluten free salted caramel cupcakes and share the recipe with you, these went down a treat in my house. I feel these would also look great decorated with popcorn or mini pieces of fudge on the top? You can be totally creative and have some fun with cupcakes, because lets be honest, they never all come out looking identical anyway!!

I used a ready-made salted caramel sauce which you can buy from most supermarkets (the one I got was Sainsburys) but you can of course make your own. Like I did in my gluten free salted caramel millionaires shortbread! So this is completely up to you.

Makes Approx 12

Ingredients

For the cake:

• 4oz / 125g Caster Sugar
• 4oz / 125g Butter
• 4oz / 125g Gluten Free Plain Flour (I am using Doves Farm)
• 1 ½ Teaspoons Baking Powder (always check it is gluten free)
• 2 Eggs
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

For the icing:

• 7oz / 200g Icing sugar
• 3oz / 90g Butter
• 2-3 drops of vanilla extract
• Salted Caramel sauce (I had 1 jar)

Cake cases from Marks & Spencer (optional). Couldn’t find them to purchase online, but they are available in store.

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C / Gas Mark 4. If your using the cases from M&S you will need to lightly grease each one before popping it on a baking tray. If you are using regular cases you can skip this step.
2. In a large mixing bowl with an electric whisk, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy.
3. In a seperate jug whisk together the eggs and the vanilla extract. Gradually add in the egg mixture a little at a time to the butter/sugar mix, add in a spoonful of your flour during this process to stop the mixture from curdling.
4. Add in the flour and baking powder and whisk again until a smooth cake batter is formed.
5. Distribute the mixture evenly across the cases, filling each one about ¾ full.
6. Pop into the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown, and when a skewer is poked through, it comes out clean.
7. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool, meanwhile make your icing.
8. Whisk the butter for 3-5 minutes until it is a lighter colour. Gradually sift in the icing sugar and beat until a fairly stiff icing is formed. Add more icing sugar or water, to get the right consistency.
9. When the cakes are cool, hollow out a small hole in the centre of each sponge (I used the end of a teaspoon for this) and fill it with about half a teaspoon of salted caramel sauce. Then pipe the icing on the top of each cake and finish with another drizzle of sauce. Obviously if you find this too much you can skip the centre step, but I think its nice to have a little surprise inside the sponge!
10. Enjoy!

I hope you love this recipe! If you are a fan of salted caramel… this one is for you!

K

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